Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Denial Fiend - Horror Holocaust

Denial Fiend
Horror Holocaust
Ibex Moon Records

After previewing a brand new track to the compilation album ‘After Party Massacre (Death Metal Soundtrack)’ earlier in the year, Valrico (Florida, U.S.) based death/thrash metal outfit Denial Fiend have returned with their brand new full-length effort ‘Horror Holocaust’ – the long awaited follow-up to 2007’s rather impressive ‘They Rise’.
In their four years away, Denial Fiend has undergone quite a transformation, with guitarist Sam Williams (Massacre/Down By Law/The Spears) and bassist Terry Butler (Massacre/Death/Six Feet Under/Obituary) the only members remaining from the line-up that recorded ‘They Rise’. Taking on the vocal duties from Kam Lee is Blaine ‘Zippy’ Cook (The Accüsed/The Fartz/Toe Tag), and Rob Rampy (D.R.I./The Spears) has been behind the drum kit since the band’s split with Curtis Beeson in 2008.
With the band effectively changing half its members, you can be sure that there’s bound to be a change in sound. And sure enough, those who enjoyed ‘They Rise’ will be in for quite a shock with Denial Friend’s latest offering ‘Horror Holocaust’.
The most immediate shift in direction for the band between releases is made abundantly clear with the opening track ‘Corrupted Flesh’. Unlike Lee’s traditional death growls, Cook adds a demented and somewhat chaotic punk vocal to the band’s sound, which inevitably means that you’re either going to love it or hate it. Musically, not a real lot has changed, with the band still delivering a fast paced crossover/thrash like sound, with a slight influence of death metal detected in the solos and the locked in groovier passages.
Over the course of the album’s thirty minute running time, Denial Fiend bash out eight tracks of quality crossover/thrash metal, with highlights coming in the form of ‘Stuck Pig/Bleeding Out’, the fairly straight forward (And more death metal inclined) ‘Flesh Coffin’, the catchy ‘A Fiend Without A Face’ and the closer ‘Hell Asylum’.
What’s really surprising is that ‘After Party Massacre’ (Which was released as a stand alone split single release with Incantation earlier this year) is one of the album’s less than stellar efforts, and along with the sound effect enhanced instrumental piece ‘Dunsmoor’, it’s what you could very well call the album’s filler efforts.
If you’re a fan of crossover/thrash, and don’t mind Cook’s vocal style, then ‘Horror Holocaust’ is an album that you should track down. ‘Horror Holocaust’ is short, fun and a horrific bloodfest from start to finish.
If, on the other hand, you’ve never taken to Cook’s rather unique singing voice with The Accüsed, then don’t expect this album to change your mind otherwise.